Old Shadows
by Memphiston
Summary: Fueled by the incessant remarks of Weiss, Blake accidentally reveals her anarchic past to the rest of her team. As she runs from both them and the past she has revived; a familiar masked face returns from the very shadows she claims to have left, hurt and bitter. NOTE: I may continue this if the opportunity presents itself but for now its a one-shot of BlakexAdam


**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story takes place in the space right after Blake takes off the bow and reveals her ears and before Sun comes in and says that she looks better without it. I felt something like this could happen right in between that space, heh.**

"So...the bow finally comes off." Blake's ears perked at the sudden sound, glancing around the area near the statue. She was sure that she was alone, who would be out in th Beacon square at twelve in the morning? The voice's owner smirked as she turned in the opposite direction of him. "Up here, Belladonna." Blake followed the noise back up to the statue, focusing on one small detail she had apparently missed during her time of emotional disassembly. A shadowed figure, previously seated on the head of the taller Huntsman, now stood up before making a seemingly impossible leap to the ground neighboring the girl. The expected foot to concrete crash did not occur, replaced with a practically silent touchdown. When the figure rose Blake would understand his the movements were so quiet.

"...Adam..." Blake whispered with a twinge of awe. Before her stood her ex-partner from her old White Fang days, the one she had abandoned on their final mission together. Well, _her_ final mission rather, Adam continued on to bigger and better feats for his group, never changing a single bit. Maybe his hair had gotten a tad bit longer, but other than that, the time they spent apart would be scratched off like nothing. Blake's minor shock was gone as soon as it came; she Adam's intentions and way of thinking when it came to Beacon, the students, and may other things. So she asked the obvious question. "What're you doing here?"

"Eh, enjoying the midnight sky, admiring the beauty of Beacon's campus...among other things." Adam's implication did not phase Blake, tossing his small-talk aside like trash.

"Adam...why are you here at my school?" She marched up against him, glaring straight into the slits of the mask. Adam smirked once more, remembering things he liked about his former partner, the getting to the point being one of them. He looked out towards Beacon's Main Tower and finally spilt.

"Which reason do you want, mine or the White Fang's?" Blake's fists tightened.

"The one that gets you to stop stalling." Anger started to boil within, first she had to deal with Weiss' discrimination, now this? She just wanted to be alone, but it seems she couldn't even do that. Adam sighed.

"The group's taken a...new interest in you and your position at Beacon." Blake nudged back a bit, crossing her arms. "You know how prestigious and advanced this place is, especially when compared to all the other schools. They're wondering if you wer-"

"I'm out. I'm out and you and White Fang know it." Blake spat as she looked away from her old acquaintance. "Why would you bother coming to me with this. I told you, I'm done enabling this constant conflict between the humans and faunus. Plus it seems the White Fang are doing just fine in that department without me." Adam shoved Blake around, getting in close with a deep angered scowl.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Adam's nostrils flared as he waited for Blake's answer, but the cat-faunus was silent. Adam looked away for a moment, giving a deep sigh.

"You think it's us, that we're the ones who have been robbing Vale's dust shops over these past few months...don't you?" Blake turned her gaze away, she didn't mean to imply that, but her wording was practically gushing with accusation. Adam's hands landed on his hips as he gave a chuckle of disbelief. "For your information, we've been looking into that problem ourselves. We don't like getting credit for work we didn't do. And let me tell you..." Adam reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll, whipping it over to Blake. "...the Vale Police Department's investigation skills...are garbage." Blake caught the tablet and slid it open. Glowing white text and a photo of a red-haired man wearing eyeliner and a bowling hat soon blew up on the screen.

The name at the top: _Roman Torchwick._ "Name's Roman Torchwick, crime lord, exceedingly flamboyant. That's your dust thief, been hoarding the stuff for quite a while, always leaving the lien nice and undisturbed. Feel free to share that with your teammates; maybe it will finally shut that little ice worm Schnee up." Blake's gaze shot up to Adam, his back turned to her as he gazed up at the statue, specifically the Beowolf pinched at the bottom. "And there's one more thing I'd like to point out to you. _You_ didn't tell me anything about being done, you sliced the train link and just rode off into the night, leaving me to wrap up an entire cart of dust all by myself." Blake's eyes and mouth widened in skepticism. Was Adam Taurus, _Adam Taurus_ mind you, really complaining about having to move a dust train with no assistance? Blake's hand shout out as she began her argument.

"The airjet was coming in not even three minut-" Adam turned.

"It's not the dust I'm concerned about!" Blake was shut, with Adam slowly walking toward her. "Those rainbow rocks are nothing, I know I can handle it..." Adam took a deep breath. "When I got back to headquarters everyone asked me 'what happened? where's blake?' and when I told them you just upped and walked away...they couldn't believe it. I spent all this time thinking that I was the reason we lost you." Blake's gaze floated down, her worry of Adam feeling guilty finally confirmed.

"...I had thought about it for a long time. I saw that the White Fang was beginning to get violent, and I didn't want to be a part of that. I still don't; no one told me about charges and blowing up the train, and when I found out you were following those kinds of orders..." Blake gritted her teeth. "Is that what you really think we should do Adam? Or are you just following the blind, misguided view of the White Fang?" Adam's masked eyes fell to the ground, unsure of an answer. Blake frowned. "You don't even know do you?" After a moment, he finally glanced up.

"I don't know if violence will make them understand how far we're willing to go, but I'm willing to try it if it works. Those "innocent people" you split from the train that day were all Schnee Dust dregs. They hate us regardless of what we do and how we think. Why should I have to care about them when they rather see us lynched?" Adam's gaze nudged up to Blake's cat ears as he paused. "I know you think we can meld into society by peace...but _exactly who_ have you revealed your being a faunus too?" Blake's hands cringed into fists as Adam spoke. "Everyone you interact with thinks you're human. You hide it like a deformity. If you really want to prove me and White Fang wrong..." Adam paused, slowly taking the cat girl's hand and massaging the ribbon intertwined within her fingers. "...Don't put it back on. See if your friends treat you the same when they see." Blake's lips quivered...as much as she hated it Adam was 100% right. Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Jaune, Pyrrha and everyone else she had met at Beacon and befriended were completely oblivious to what she was. Cardin would have pounced with no hesitation had he known as well. She breathed deeply, angry at everything: Weiss, Adam, the White Fang, but most of all...the truth. With nothing to say and nothing to do...Blake just lowered her head, a lone tear flickering down the front of her cheek. Adam watched as she tried so hard to hold it in, with only one or two sobs slipping through. They both stared into each other, past the eyes, before Adam moved in, cradling Blake in his arms. Blake didn't whimper, snapping her teeth together to stifle the noise. She just leant her head against Adam's shoulder and let the tears silently flow.

Adam remained stoic in his expression, but was absolutely lost as he kept his protege close. Never before had Blake showed this side to him: a distressed, confused, angry girl who just wanted the world to stop ripping itself in two. The risk of words felt to great for him at the moment, so he just let her rest on his shoulder, airing all the stress and sadness out. They remained there for a while before Adam finally felt he could speak.

"I wish we could wake up and have everything be settled. No more stealing trains, no more arguments in the middle of town squares, no more name calling.., no more hiding underneath bows...and masks." Adam bit his lip as he paused. "But to be honest, I don't know what else we can do to show the humans we aren't afraid." Blake unlatched her head from Adam's shoulder and their eyes met once more. "The Faunus War won us the right to live amongst them...years of bloodshed and over powering to get that little sliver of equality."

"If you don't learn from history, you're destined to repeat it though." Blake replied. Adam simply nodded, understanding that either choice he made could end with no progress. But as much as he felt differently, the White Fang was the only influential pro-faunus-equality force that he knew had made headway. The thought of their sudden swerve into destruction and violence dragged the man's eyes downward, only stopping once they hit Blake's flowing bow. Taking her hand in his, he gave the piece of cloth a good long look before finally letting out a rare smile.

"You know, I always hated this thing...your ears were always beautiful to see." Blake smiled, blushing a little as her ears waived down. Adam patted and then relinquished her hand before turning away towards the statue. He glanced backwards. "I'll tell the White Fang your off-limits. But I'll still be around...got to make sure that you're putting my teachings to good use." With that, the horned faunus began to march off, leaving Blake to gaze and reflect on what happened. As he walked, Adam's eyes slunk off to the side, focusing on the tailed figure that had just make the leap over a nearby building, now clamoring down the windows sills and awnings towards the ground. He soon gave thought to leaving his meeting with his superiors for another night and sticking around, especially with the fact that the figure, the light revealing it to be a yellow-hued monkey faunus garbed in punk-rock trash, was heading straight towards Blake. The dormitories nearby had excellent cover.

Blake took in a deep breath, watching as her mentor walked away, becoming silhouette outlined in bright red. Once he had vanished completely in shadow, she returned to the statue. So many things were twisting and turning within her mind, it was becoming exhausting, to the point that she felt she should just hop back into her dorm with no words to anyone, and just topple onto the bed. That is until an somewhat familiar voice blared out from behind her.

"I KNEW you'd look better with out the bow!"


End file.
